Rogue Love
by Lissa88
Summary: Edward is a rogue member of the Volturi Guard. Aro feels threatened by him, and tries to capture him. He continues to fail, but he finds a secret weapon in a human girl that may lead to Edward's demise.


**A/N: **This is rated T for now, but the rating may go up, depending. This story will probably go back and forth between POVs quite a bit, but they'll probably mainly be Bella/Edward POV. Aro, for now though! Oh, I feel so articulate writing in Aro's POV. I wish I was smarter so I didn't have to use my thesaurus so much. PS, thanks to ISmellCrayons at IMDb for the title.

**Aro's POV**

Another insipid day. I ached for something new, something intriguing to come along. I almost felt hopeful today, but the feeling quickly dissipated. No, today would be just like every other day: typical, and oh so arid.

I glanced around the room before me, each of my "brothers" sitting on either side of me. Cauis wore his usual scowl, and Marcus was blankly staring at the feet of the others that were scattered around the large area we occupied.

I let the recesses of my mind wander, and began thinking about Demetri. It had been two weeks since he had left for South America, searching for the _deserter_. I knew it to be another futile search party, but Demetri refused to abandon his cause. He would have to admit defeat eventually. Edward would always hear him coming, and escape just in the nick of time. He was very fast. I felt a quick and fleeting twinge of envy towards Edward. His speed and incredible power of reading minds from a distance had often made me feel inadequate, which I did _not_ enjoy. And to make matters worse, Edward knew these things. I hid my thoughts well when I was around him, but even with so many years of practice, it was still difficult to control them at all times.

Edward was with us for only 5 years, a very short amount of time. He didn't trust my occassional envious thoughts. He'd also said he wanted to return to his creator, my old _friend_, Carlisle.

I never could understand Carlisle. I suppose he deserved a certain amount of praise for being able to abstain from human blood for so long, but I did not enjoy his superior thoughts. He never thought me to be inferior, but I could read the underlying tenor there. He thought that his control made him better. He thought that his compassion gave him absolution.

If there was anything that this life has taught me, it's that there is no absolution. There is no higher power. And I answer to no one. When Carlisle first came to us, I admit, I was curious, and I tried out his diet once. I had elk. It was the only time in my vampiric existance that I gagged. I could see absolutely no appeal.

We are what we are, so why does he not accept that? It was not something that I wished upon myself, by any means, but after so many centuries, I realized that it just wasn't worth the internal battle that I had put myself through in my first decades. There is nothing we can do to change what we are, and I resented Carlisle for trying.

However, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The phrase almost seemed literal in Carlisle's case. So I let him go, and wished him luck in his fruitless search for meaning in this life. I had surmised that Carlisle was no harm to us. I never dreamed that he would form his own coven.

So when Edward came to us, 7 years ago, and I heard in his mind that Carlisle's coven was up to seven now, I was quite shocked. And disconcerted. To Edward's mind, Carlisle wasn't searching for power, and each of his new coven members joined out of an apparent affection for one another, and I was calmed when I learned of Edward's power, and how he would have known if Carlisle was in pursuit of something more. Though, now that Edward has left us, I've grown worried again. He's no longer here, therefore I can't read his thoughts. Something may have changed, and it could be very dangerous to us.

Edward very narrowly escaped Demetri the first time he had come looking for him, just a few weeks after Edward had left. Demetri found him, with Carlisle's coven, in a small Alaskan town, but Edward had warned his family, and separated from them. They were gone by the time Demetri had arrived at their dwelling.

Demetri had not met any of the members of Carlisle's coven, and had not felt their minds, and so he could not follow them. He chose to pursue Edward again, but Edward was always too fast.

Demetri returned, and I was utterly disappointed. We practiced different methods of ways that Demetri could better control his mind, and perhaps he could surprise Edward if he could keep his thoughts in check for just a few moments. He just had to be fast enough to trap him.

Demetri found Edward again, in Australia this time, and still separated from his coven. But he could not domineer his mind enough to fool Edward. He'd escaped again.

I had told Demetri that it wasn't possible to capture him, not yet, and that we should give up for the time being. Demetri would have none of that. He was stubborn, and could not admit failure. He'd try again. That was two weeks ago today, and we'd still not heard from him. I knew that if he was going to get to Edward, he would have had him by now. I imagined he was just on a wild goose chase at this point, not wanting to return empty handed.

I was brought out of my thoughts by loud, stomping footsteps in the distance, the kinds that only humans, or elephants, could make. I inhaled and let the fire burn my throat, and the venom seep into my mouth. I heard Heidi's soothing voice speaking to the humans as many of them marveled at their surroundings.

The stomps became closer and closer, and the other occupants of the room started shifting to the east corner of the large hall, preparing for our next meal.

Heidi burst through the door, angelic as always, with her odd violet eyes, the product of colored contacts. She shuffled the humans in, and slammed the door, locking it. Before the humans knew what was happening, the vampires in the room pounced. I snapped an elder man's neck, and bit into his wrist, sucking him dry. After I finished with him, I crossed the room, over to my next victim; a girl, young. I suppose she was 17 or so. She had dark brown hair, pale white skin, and her chocolate eyes were wide with terror. I smiled at her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to me.

She smelled very interesting, almost floral. It wasn't often you came across blood like hers, and I knew this would be an enjoyable meal. I pulled her tighter against me, but I stopped, my lips at her neck. I fought against the burning thirst long enough to notice something.

I heard... nothing? That couldn't be right. I pulled away from her slightly, just enough to look into her eyes. They were still wide, never blinking, and I focused intently on them. I still heard nothing. I closed my eyes, held her wrist very tightly, feeling it snap under the pressure. I paid no attention to her screams, I just gripped her arm tightly and listened for her thoughts.

All I heard were the screams filling the room, hers right in my ear. I released her wrist, and she stumbled back against the brick wall, gripping her broken hand as tears streamed down her cheeks.

I smiled again, softer this time. "What's your name, child?" I asked. She finally blinked, and for a moment, confusion replaced the terror in her eyes. But then she glanced around the room, covered in blood, all the people she had entered with now lay slain on the ground, and the fear returned. Her eyes darted back to me, and her breaths quickened. "Your name?" I repeated.

"Bella," she whispered.

"Bella... What a pretty name," I said, delicately. "_Bella_, where are you from?" Her heart raced, and her panicked eyes scanned the room again.

"Arizona." Ah, an American. Edward was the only American we'd ever had in the Volturi Guard. Perhaps that could change... I had an idea, but first I had to test it.

"Alec," I called to my young, blond ward. He hurried over to me, looking back and forth between the girl and I, bewildered, and waited for me to speak. "Would you be so kind to fetch Jane for me? I have a little experiment." He bowed his head, and disappeared out the doors. Bella was shaking against the wall, and I reached out to caress her face. She winced against my touch, her face hot with tears and horror, and my fingers cool and pale. "Don't worry, Bella... I may just have something else in store for you."

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**A/N: **Probably stupid of me to start another multi-chapter fic while I currently have a work in progress, but I've been wanting to start this forever. I'm not guaranteeing speedy updates, but I hope that the story intrigues you enough to follow it! Reviews are love!


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